Sex Trafficking Special Report: Most cited for prostitution receive a $500 fine

Jul. 20, 2013

Reno Police Sgt. Ron Chalmers talks to a man cited for soliciting prostitution on Fourth Street in downtown Reno. The suspected johns must have a blood test and appear in court. Chalmers says the two questions most frequently asked are: Do they have to appear in court, and will the citation appear in the newspaper. / Liz Margerum/RGJ

Written by

Bespectacled and balding, one of the men caught in a recent undercover prostitution sting in downtown Reno wore tan shorts and flip-flops.

Another was young and clean-shaven. He told police that he worked construction and drove his father’s pickup.

A third man drove a BMW and wore a wedding ring. He was recently appointed administrator for a state agency.

The men who solicit sex from women along downtown Reno’s sidewalks or through website ads are fat and thin, young and old, professionals and blue-collar workers.

Most know nothing of the lives of the women they’re soliciting. They’re participating not only in a crime of solicitation, but often are contributing to the violent and damaging trade of sex trafficking.

Sgt. Ron Chalmers, who heads the Reno Police Department’s Street Enforcement Team, or SET, said new laws targeting pimps will help law enforcement cut back on the crime, but nothing will really change until the customers of exploited girls face harsher punishments.

Under Nevada law, offering sex for sale or offering to pay for sex is solicitation.

Many think prostitution is legal in Nevada. It is legal only in licensed brothels in counties with a population less than 700,000. Only seven Nevada counties have approved them.

Street solicitation is illegal everywhere in Nevada, but offenders are only cited for misdemeanors. Most men caught soliciting are issued a citation that carries a $500 fine. Few are arrested.

And they are only taken into custody if they have outstanding warrants, identification problems or other legal concerns.

During a recent SET undercover sting, a female police officer dressed in a salmon-colored top and capri pants walked up and down Fourth Street. She was approached at least six times during the three-hour session by men who scoped her out from their cars and then stopped and made a proposition.

She wore a wire, which allowed the officers working the operation to listen to her conversations. Once the man requested a sex act and suggested a price, she directed him to a hotel where police surrounded the man and informed him that he had just violated the law.

SET has conducted three stings over the past year, citing 22 men. Four of the men were from California. One was from Fernley and another from Sun Valley. The rest were from Reno or Sparks.